The Trials of Sisterhood
by xlavelle
Summary: Alternate Season 4 Premiere. Feeling lonely because Lorelai is occupied with her new Inn and Lane is busy with the band, Rory, at the prompting of Richard and amidst Lorelai's protests, decides to give a Yale sorority a try.
1. Trials of Sisterhood Teaser

TEASER  
  
FADE IN:  
  
_Scene opens as camera pans through Stars Hallow. The town is decked out in Halloween decorations. Camera takes us to the town until we get to the Gilmore residence, which is only adorned with a simple goofy but not well done pumpkin out front, obviously an attempt at creating a celebrity pumpkin, but it is unclear exactly who its supposed to be. The camera goes inside, where we find LORELAI putting candy into a bowl. We hear Rory come in behind her, but we do not see her._  
  
INT. GILMORE HOUSEHOLD - EVENING  
  
LORELAI  
_(look up as though she has just seen something awful)_  
You cannot be wearing that.  
  
RORY  
Huh?  
  
_ANGLE - Cut to Rory's face only_  
  
LORELAI  
Rory, you can't go out in that.  
  
_ANGLE - Camera moves down. It reveals that Rory is wearing a very conservative and traditional witch costume. She puts on her witch hat._  
  
RORY  
Mom, what are you talking about?  
  
LORELAI  
Have I taught you nothing? Halloween is an excuse to throw caution to the wind, try on a new identity, be risque, wear slutty outfits without harming your angelic reputation.  
  
RORY  
Mom!  
  
LORELAI  
No, seriously. Now, don't worry. I'm sure we can whip you something up in no time. Just give me a minute here. Let me think for a minute here...French maid?  
  
RORY  
Mom, this is fine. I don't want to go as something slutty.  
  
LORELAI  
French maid is too much, huh? How 'bout... cabaret dancer?  
  
RORY  
I'm going now.  
  
_Rory begins to head out the door, but Lorelai follows her throughout the remaining dialogue, shouting after her._  
  
LORELAI  
Oh, oh, you could go as Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge, you know before the coughing up blood and death.  
  
RORY  
_(grabbing purse)_  
Bye, mom.  
  
LORELAI  
Or with the coughing up blood and death. It is Halloween. The time of blood and death. But sexy blood and death, huh?  
  
RORY  
Out the door already.  
  
LORELAI  
I've got the perfect fishnet hose.  
  
RORY  
See you tomorrow, mom.  
  
LORELAI  
Come on, at least wear the fishnets!  
  
OPENING CREDITS


	2. Trials of Sisterhood Act One Scene 1

ACT ONE  
  
SCENE ONE  
EXTERIOR - LORELAI AND SOOKIE EAT CANDY ON PORCH - EVENING  
  
_Scene opens on SOOKIE and LORELAI on the porch, staring off into space and absentmindedly eating candy from the candy bowl, surrounded by wrappers. A group of kids with a chaperone is making its way up the road to the Gilmore house._  
  
SOOKIE  
So why isn't Rory here?  
  
LORELAI  
Some sort of Costume Frat Party.  
  
SOOKIE  
Oh, sounds...dirty.  
  
LORELAI  
Not in the outfit she was wearing.  
  
_The group of kids arrives; each in their own darling little costume._  
  
GROUP OF KIDS  
Trick-or-Treat.  
  
_She hands them each a piece of candy, in the traditional Halloween fashion. As they walk away..._  
  
SOOKIE  
Aren't you worried about her going to a frat party?  
  
LORELAI  
Rory's a good kid. I know she won't do anything I did at her age. Plus, Lane's there, and somehow she even got Paris to tag along.  
  
SOOKIE  
It's great that Rory already has a friend on campus.  
  
LORELAI  
Even if it is Paris.  
  
SOOKIE  
Yeah, but she has someone to hang out with, someone to stand with awkwardly at parties where she doesn't know anyone, until she gets accustomed there.  
  
LORELAI  
Even if it is Paris.  
  
GROUP OF KIDS  
Trick-Or-Treat.  
  
LORELAI  
_(Takes a bite of a candy bar, looks down and find bowl only has one more piece of candy in it)  
_Uh-oh.  
_(Fishes into her pocket)_  
Er, um, you are getting the special treats I have been hiding in my pockets. A dime for you, and a tissue for you - it's not used - and a magical Halloween Cert for you. Happy Halloween! Come back next year!  
  
CHILD  
This cert has lint on it.  
  
LORELAI  
The lint is what makes it magical, kid.  
  
_Reluctantly and disappointed, the group of kids leave, but there is another group fast approaching behind them.  
_  
SOOKIE  
Er...  
_(Looks down at the bowl of candy and then up at the group of kids that is approaching)   
_What do we do now?  
  
LORELAI  
What have you got in your pockets?  
  
SOOKIE  
_(Checks her pockets)_  
My keys?  
  
LORELAI  
Run!  
  
_They quickly shove the empty wrappers into the bowl by the handful, and run inside, just in time to miss the next group of kids.  
  
Or maybe not. There is knocking on the door behind them._

VOICE  
_(through door)_  
We know you're in there. We saw you with the candy bowl.  
  
LORELAI  
Is that-?  
  
SOOKIE   
_(Peeks out the window)  
_Yep, it's Kirk.  
  
LORELAI  
_(Typical Lorelai Reaction; opens door)  
_Look, hey, Kirk, we just ran out of candy. I swear.  
_(Shows bowl)  
_See?  
  
KIRK  
Well, then you know what that means.  
  
LORELAI  
_(Nope)  
_Uh...  
  
KIRK  
Trick or treat. No treat, so...  
  
LORELAI  
Yes, but see, we HAD good intentions, but as the pile of empty wrappers will attest, we could not control our carnal urges. So I hardly think we deserve...  
  
KIRK  
It's the rules. You don't give us a treat; we demand a trick.  
  
LORELAI  
You demand a?  
  
KIRK  
I demand a magic trick.  
  
LORELAI  
A magic trick. Oh, oh, yeah, right, of course, a magic trick. Trick or treat, right? Um...  
_(Looks around)_  
Sookie? Help me here. A magic trick.  
  
SOOKIE  
A magic trick? A magic trick. But-  
  
KIRK  
Yes, a magic trick. It's what the customs call for. Trick OR Treat. No treat. So it calls for a trick.  
  
SOOKIE  
But I always thought that trick meant -  
  
LORELAI  
_(Interrupting her)  
_That this time of year is so magical. But luckily we had Kirk here to clear that common misconception up for us. And so we will do a trick. A magic trick in fact. Yes...a magic trick.  
_(As she searches with her eyes around her for something to perform)  
_Yep, I've one here ready to perform just gotta...um..find it.  
_(Pointing behind Kirk)  
_Look a rhinoceros!  
  
KIRK  
_(Turns around to look)_  
Where?

_LORELAI grabs a book from the table near the door, while Kirk turns around._  
  
KIRK  
A rhinoceros? Where? There's no rhinoceros.  
  
_Kirk turns back around, and Lorelai is holding up the book - The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky.  
_  
LORELAI  
Tada! And I made the magical book magically appear.  
  
KIRK  
_(greatly annoyed by her irreverent attitude toward the sacred Halloween traditions)  
_Lorelai!  
  
LORELAI  
_(To the kids, trying to usher them out)  
_Happy Halloween, come back next year, when I pull a rabbit out of Kirk's ear.  
  
KIRK  
Lorelai. That wasn't a magic trick. You just made me turn around and picked it up off the table.  
  
LORELAI  
_(The typical Lorelai sigh of Ugh)_  
You just ruined my magic trick. Gave away the great secret of Lorelai Houdini - Queen of Illusions. World renowned for her impossible book-appearing-trick-doing.  
  
KIRK  
Lorelai. I am not leaving until I get a magic trick or candy. It's only right.  
  
SOOKIE  
I'm pretty sure that the trick meant that if you don't get a piece of candy, then the kids would play-  
  
LORELAI  
_(Interrupting her again)  
_Bye, Kirk. Bye, kids! Nice witch outfit, by the way. Very New Age.  
  
KID  
Thanks.  
  
KIRK  
I'm staying right where I am.  
  
_Lorelai forcibly removes him from the doorway amid his audible and physical protests, but she, of course, succeeds in removing him. He IS just Kirk after all.  
_  
LORELAI  
_(As she shuts the door.)  
_Happy Halloween!  
  
_He continues to knock on the door, shouting.  
_  
KIRK  
_(Barely audible through the door)  
_Lorelai! Let me back in! Lorelai! This isn't right. This is a time honored Halloween tradition. Trick or Treat is a phrase that dates back at least as far back as when my mother went trick or treating. Lorelai!  
  
_LORELAI rests upon the closed door, with an expression that says, "Wow, Kirk needs to get a life." We can still hear Kirk protesting through the door.  
_  
SOOKIE  
Yeah, kids are supposed to play a trick on you if you don't give them candy. Like toilet papering the house, egging your lawn, or covering your mailbox in shaving cream... or is it whipped cream?  
  
LORELAI  
And you were telling this to Kirk because?  
  
SOOKIE  
He's got the tradition wrong.  
  
LORELAI  
But really I'd rather pull a book out of thin air than have my house mauled by Kirk and Company.  
  
SOOKIE  
Good point, good point.   
_(Pause)_   
Now what?  
  
_We can still hear KIRK in the background.  
_  
LORELAI  
He'll give up in a half hour or so.   
_(Pause)_   
I'm still hungry. You wanna order pizza?

END OF SCENE 1


	3. Trials of Sisterhood Act One Scene 2

INTERIOR - NIGHT - FRAT HOUSE

_Cut to a slice of pizza. It is RORY picking it up. The house is incredibly crowded. The music is loud. And RORY is utterly alone by the food table in a very cliche wallflower kind of way. She looks around uncomfortably and munches on her pizza, more to have something to do than out of hunger. We see Lane talking to two guys to the left of the table. RORY walks over to rejoin them._

LANE  
The set's starting to come together, but the amps still sound dirty to me.

DUDE 1  
What are you using? 50 Or 120?

DUDE 2  
You should be using a 50. And Blue Voodoo is only good if you like a distort.

LANE  
I hear the amp Jets to Brazil use is the Johnson Mil.

RORY  
_(Attempting to join the conversation that she does not understand)  
_Jets to Brazil is an emo band, isn't it?

DUDE 1  
Technically, no.Its more post-emo indie rock. I think Hound dog is the best amp out there.

DUDE 2  
No way. Definitely Redbone.

LANE  
Yeah, it is totally rocking. I hear...

_And the conversation fades out as....RORY walks away, back towards the table to grab more food or a drink._

RORY  
_(To herself)  
_Yeah, I thought so too...  
  
_Rory obviously has no idea what they are talking about. __At the table covered with snacky goodness, she meets up with PARIS._

PARIS  
Man, I just saw Andrew Holman from ACLU, and you will not believe what happened to him over the summer.

RORY  
From ACLU?

PARIS  
American Civil Liberties Union. I've been attending meetings over the summer.

RORY  
You've already been to meetings?

PARIS  
Well, it wasn't an official meeting. It was a leadership meeting, but I thought, hey, it won't be long until I am officially leadership, so I might as well get started right away. Get myself in there to start fixing things, before the school year begins and someone else messes them up. It's like Professor Walton was saying at the orientation last week, you need to seize opportunities before-

RORY  
An orientation? You went to an orientation already?

PARIS  
Freshman orientation. I meet the coordinator at the Young Democrats' tea. (proudly) I even got to ride her horse.

RORY  
Man, I haven't been to any meetings yet, or gone to any orientations, or watched any classes, or attended any teas, or ridden any horses, or-

PARIS  
You have signed up for classes already, right?

RORY  
_(in disbelief that she is so behind, left out and lost)  
_Signed up for classes?

PARIS  
Yeah. Over the internet.

RORY  
_(her disbelief and panic is increasing)  
_Over the internet?

PARIS  
All the good stuff gets taken by the upperclassmen, but you might get lucky if someone dropped a class. You should try to get into the same Journalism period as me. When we get back, I'll give you the course code of my-

_She is interrupted by Tony, a handsome older guy, dressed as one would expect a respectable young Yale man to be dressed - like a Backstreet Boy._

TONY  
Yo! Paris!

PARIS  
Hey Tony! Rory, this is Tony. Tony, this is Rory. He's is the president of the ACLU.

RORY  
Nice to meet you.

_They shake hands. _

TONY  
_(turns back to PARIS)  
_So I was thinking about that proposal you made at the meeting last week.

PARIS  
Yeah?

TONY  
Yeah, actually a bunch of us were talking about it at the coffee house last week. We called you, but you were out.

_The conversation continues, but the camera focuses on Rory. She is now not only bored, but also a bit panicked._

PARIS  
Saturday night?

TONY  
Yeah.

PARIS  
I was at Andrews'.

TONY  
Working on the Muller situation.

_They both break out into laughter. Rory doesn't get it._

PARIS  
Did you get anywhere with that?

_Fades to..._


	4. Trials of Sisterhood Act One Scene 3

INTERIOR - LATER - FRAT HOUSE

_Rory has now taken a chair over to the food table. In front of her is evidence that she has been eaten a great deal of food. She pulls her keys out of her pocket and heads over to Lane and Paris to tell them she is heading out._

LANE  
So early?

RORY  
The early worm avoids the birds. I'm just getting kind of tired.

LANE  
Do you want me to leave with you?

RORY  
No, no, I'm fine. I'll just grab a cab. Let Paris know that I left if she stops arguing long enough to notice I'm gone.

_Cut to PARIS rather animatedly arguing the importance of a solid financial foundation for the Young Democrats' campus campaign._

LANE  
_(laughing)  
_I will. I will. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?  
_(pause)_  
You're sure you don't want me to leave with you?

RORY  
_(covering)  
_I'm fine. You stay here; chat it up with the band; have a good time. What did you end up telling your mom about tonight?

LANE  
That it was a late night bible study group about the dangers and temptations of a college environment and how to avoid them.

RORY  
Genius.

LANE  
Sometimes I surprise myself. Do you think she'll buy that it went on until 11?

RORY  
Tell her there was an optional late-late night section that covered the dangers of listening to rock and roll. She'll support that.

ZACH  
No way dude. Definitely a steel-string acoustic.

BRIAN  
Dude, steel-string, so not the way to go.

_Holds up his band-aid-covered fingers._

BRIAN(CONT'D)  
_(whining)  
_It hurts.

ZACH  
You have to suffer for your art. Lane, what do you think? Steel-string or nylon?

LANE  
I don't know guys. I mean steel-string definitely have a better sound, but the nylon...

_And Rory leaves...as the conversation fades out._


	5. Trials of Sisterhood Act One Scene 4

INTERIOR - GILMORE HOUSEHOLD - NIGHT  
  
_Rory enters the pitch dark locked house. Despite its somber appearance, she hopes that someone is home._  
  
RORY  
_(shouting out)_  
Mom? Mom? Are you here?  
  
_But her hopes unfortunately are not fulfilled. She is very much alone. She loiters a bit in the living room; thinking, stressing, worrying, deciding. Then enters her room - book-less and box-filled - because she has already moved into her dorm room on campus. She removes a few stray boxes from her bed, and without moving the covers or changing her clothes, turns off the light and goes to sleep._

END OF ACT ONE

COMMERCIAL BREAK


End file.
